Last semster in English, we read a story called Dolls House written by Katherine Mansfield. It was interesting and I wanted to investigate another story of hers, so I read The Fly. Then I decided to write about my perspective on the significance of the fly. I thought this story was very interesting and fun to read. I loved her way of using simple things to show a deeper meaning without stating the obvious. So this is what i came up with ;
The fly represents the torture the boss’s son endures in the world war one. The boss shows resentment towards the fly, as a form of grieving the death of his son. The anguish and pain he had for losing his son to war was expressed by his actions towards the fly. When the boss took the ink and splattered it on top of the fly over and over again, he was testing how long the fly can continue to fight the ink. The ink representing the enemy against his son and watching his son (the fly) fight back. To show how weak his son is when trying to defeat an unconquerable battle. For six years, the boss had not looked at the photograph of his son, because he could not bare the that that, “his boy was an only son”, who he “ worked at building up this business”, was no longer with him. For his business symbolizes all his hard work, and life, “if had no other meaning if it was not for the boy. Life itself had come to have no other meaning.”(277) He was so hurt and disturbed because of the loss of his only son that he couldn’t even look at his picture until that very “moment the boss noticed that a fly had fallen into his broad inkpot, and was trying feebly but desperately to clamber out again. Help!” (277) Both incidents occurred simultaneously which indicated its significance.
